Unacceptable Delay For Open Government Ordinance
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 4/9/08 @ 1:18 am - Filed Under City Council, Featured
Councilman Mitch Harper’s Open Government ordinance was discussed during committee session at tonight’s city council meeting. The ordinance was held because councilman Tim Pape and council attorney Joe Bonahoom wanted to review the language in the ordinance and possibly recommend some changes. This delay is flat out unacceptable as Bonahoom and Pape have had at least two weeks to review an ordinance that only has 4 sentences.
And let us not forget that the council recently changed from having two attorneys to only having one because Bonahoom was supposedly doing all the work anyway. Harper was none to happy about the delay and I think that’s putting it mildly. He even suggested that former city attorney Tim Manges should look at the ordinance because he trusts his judgment - a clear shot at Bonahoom (video below). Around Fort Wayne has a take on this exchange that is much more critical of councilman Pape.
The vote to hold the ordinance until Bonahoom has time to review it passed 7-2 with Harper and councilwoman Liz Brown voting against. Harper was visibly upset and had a contentious exchange with Bonahoom and Pape after the vote. At the very end came the comment about Tim Manges:
After the meeting I asked Harper what he thought of Bonahoom sandbagging him at the council table:
Amendments to a bill should be discussed ahead of time. This ordinance is 3 weeks old. To bring this up at council is unprofessional
I must agree with Harper here. Even if you take Bonahoom’s excuse at face value, that he was awaiting Harper’s amendment, why in the world didn’t he talk to him about it before the meeting sometime today? The ordinance was listed on the council agenda in both the committee and regular session. As Scott Spaulding pointed out earlier, that meant the council was planning on passing the ordinance tonight - something the council attorney should surely know.
If Harper’s reaction at the meeting is any indication then Bonahoom’s reign as the sole council attorney may be short lived…
(Photo from Bonahoom & Bonahoom)
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25 Responses to “Unacceptable Delay For Open Government Ordinance”
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Harper voted for Bonahoom to be council attorney. NOW he says that he trusts another attorney more.
hmmmmm…….
Two things:
1. I find humor in this part of Harper’s statement- He did not think it was right to”…then learn of objection to it (the ordinance) at the council table.”
So basically, he wants to settle the issue BEHIND closed doors- then vote in public. Kinda ironic when you are discussing Open Government.
2. Harper wants to invoke the same rules that Muncie did- that includes the “Golden Rule” (Do unto others…). I hope not all council members start acting like he did during this meeting- he was WAY out of line.
Could councilman Harper possibly be anymore pompous. My god, he is insufferable.
What an interesting first council meeting for this novice. However, it was intetersting; and this may be an outcome of not having private caucuses.
In the past decades around the country, caucuses were used to vent so when the public meeting happened, the public would think there’s a love fest among all committee members or council members or commission members or whatever.
Public meetings let it all hang out for the public to witness and learn and make judgments.
Apparently, this matter of public decorum is also newsworthy in Muncie with its consideration of a “Golden Rule” ordinance.
We do not need that here.
Fort Wayne has a chance for the high road with enacting an Open Government Ordinance which was unfortunately delayed and for no good reason.
Councilman Harper was right on target and had the conviction to voice it. Kevin missed the point here on the Councilman’s comments about it being “discourteous” to only find out at a meeting that there are concerns.
That was certainly not a reference to a caucus meeting. There is email and there is the phone and there is even a messsage center through Molly McCrae.
Public 1 conveyed its support for the ordinance in an email and a drop off to Molly to put the group’s letter of support into each of the Council member folders IN ADVANCE of the meeting.
There was no caucus needed to convey information.
This is a Simple and Yet Important Ordinance. It has but two short sections. It can be reviewed in less than an hour; and yet one must know the intent of the authors of the ODL and its various amendments over time. Section 1 of the ODL is critical to understand intent for today and analyze proposals. Perhaps this is the logic behind requesting Tim Manges to assist in this exercise.
Really now? A two week delay on setting the standard for how government administers and serves the public seems unnecessary; and Councilman Harper called it the way he saw it–and he was right.
Wait a minute Dan? Are you kidding me? Dont support Harper and his “golden rule” proposal simultaneously! Mitch Harper chose to take a personal and meanspirited shot at Joe Bonahoom and try and embarrass him with his reference to trusting Manges’ judgment. What golden rule are you referring to?
I have known Joe Bonahoom for more than a decade. He is an attorney that is respected by ALL in the legal community with the utmost skill, competence and integrity. For Harper to insinuate that Joe did not have the judgment to review his matter, was nothing but the pettiest of political shots. It was as petty as a first grader on the playground who takes their kickball home to end the game.
Kevin,
The council attorney can legally discuss technical changes to the wording of an ordinance behind closed doors. In fact that’s what he should be doing…
Jeff,
And as Bonahoom explained- he was waiting on Mitch’s changes.
Come on people. You should have seen this coming from the first meeting in January. We have two people trying to become BIG CHIEFS.
Frankly both of them to need to knock it off and remember who voted them in and they are to serve the people. As my Dad would have told us at the dinner table when bickering broke out was to “grow up!”
Just to clarify to aid in this dialogue, my comment that Fort Wayne does not need Muncie’s Golden Rule Ordinance was simply that–a reference to enacting an ordinance to tell people to practice the golden rule. Why ordinance that?
It is commmon sense and understood and being done already, including on weblogs such as this one.
I merely was making the point that Fort Wayne does need an ordinance to tell people on or off public bodies to practice the golden rule.
And Fort Wayne has now an opportunity to enact an Open Government Ordinance which is recognzed as a legitimate subject for state statutes and local ordinances.
Mitch Harper’s treatment of Joe Bonahoom is absolute bull____. Who the heck does he think he is treating Joe like that? Ridiculous. Maybe mitch has the type of practice where he can drop everything for ONE client all the time. Joe Bonahoom is a part time employee of the city council and has a full time legal practice. He, by necessity, has a career outside of being council attorney and he has a family and it appears he simply failed to get to Mitch’s ordinance in time for the meeting.
Get over Mitch. The world was revolving before your ordinance and it will continue to revolve during any delay.
Sam Talarico said:
“The world was revolving before your ordinance and it will continue to revolve during any delay.”
He couldn’t be more correct.
This ordinance had a “hold” placed on it, no one on the council said they would like to see it destroyed or thrown away. So, whats the hurry? Is there an underlying agenda? So it waits two weeks for passage. In the meantime it can be proofread and any errors can be corrected.
The delay isn’t only acceptable, it is welcomed.
I think the people of this city would rather wait a week for a complete, error-free ordinance, before see a sloppy, non-effective one passed.
Let’s stop rushing an ordinance that doesn’t need to be rushed. Haste makes waste.
Sam,
If, “Joe Bonahoom is a part time employee of the city council and has a full time legal practice. He, by necessity, has a career outside of being council attorney and he has a family and it appears he simply failed to get to Mitch’s ordinance in time for the meeting.” Was it appropriate for the council to go from 2 attorneys down to 1? Which, ironically enough, was decided in the ‘almost’ caucus that led to the need for this very ordinance.
Justin, I believe having 2 “quarter-time” attorneys was not a good idea. There was a lack of continuity from meeting to meeting. There should be just one attorney. The fact is that Mitch Harper probably gave this ordinance to Joe the week before Spring Break and it simply did not get completed. Mitch behaved as if our city’s well being hangs in the balance until his earth shattering ordinance is passed.
I get the feeling that Mitch thinks that his years of experience at the State House put him in some sort of superior position on council and it appears he got his feelings hurt that the council attorney did not put the brakes on his entire practice and family life to finalize his ordinance.
It is going to be a long 4 years for City Council the way it is going right now. I am glad that I am just reading about it on Jeff’s blog and not living it.
Sam is right, in fact Harper gave the ordinance to Bonahoom just hours prior to the Friday deadline (for ordinances to be presented in the ensuing week). Bonahoom was leaving for a business trip shortly there after.
Zach,
The Friday deadline was for the following week - it’s now been two and a half weeks since then.
Sam,
We all have to balance personal and professional responsibilities. If Joe was not going to be able to look at the ordinance then he should’ve handed it off to Tim Manges or somebody else. You’re acting like we should cut him some slack because he’s busy…
As Bonahoom stated in the video clip, he was waiting for amendments/changes that Harper said he wanted to make himself. Bonahoom never recieved those from Harper, and was waiting to take action on the ordinance until that time.
However, at this point we are all splitting hairs. The ordinance is held there isn’t anything we bloggers can do now.
Having said that, I haven’t seen either of the Fort Wayne newspapers cover this story which conveys to me that no one but those of us in the blogosphere think it is a big deal, or worth spending THIS much time and energy on. Let’s move on and see what happens next week.
Zach,
Your point on splitting hairs is well taken. It is what it is right now.
I’m almost certain that the JG’s Political Notebook will have something about this story. But I reject the idea that traditional media gets to decide what is and isn’t news for everybody. Obviously they have a bigger megaphone but just because they decided not to use it doesn’t mean people don’t think this is news.
Jeff,
Bonahoom cannot “hand it off” to another attorney.
HE IS THE COUNCIL ATTORNEY- and Harper voted FOR HIM.
Kevin,
A few weeks ago Tim Manges filled in for Joe Bonahoom at the city council meeting.
Jeff,
I am not asking you to cut anybody any slack nor does it matter whether you do or not. Joe Bonahoom answers to the 9 member council… not the blogosphere (although this is becoming somewhat blurred now that FWO has a seat at the table). I am simply asking you to realize that you and Mitch’s 4 line internet open government ordinance is not the voting rights act, so your blaring red headline “unacceptable delay” is over the top and, quite frankly, ridiculous.
My main issue is with the way Harper treated Bonahoom and tried to embarrass him at the table. Unprofessional and uncalled for.
Sam,
Perhaps you’ve forgotten that Bonahoom is payed by taxpayer dollars and thus answers to ALL taxpayers - including bloggers.
Have you even read the ordinance? If you had then you would realize it’s more than 4 lines long.
For the record, the feature headlines are always “blaring red” - this wasn’t some special case. I think I’ve made my case of why I think the delay was unacceptable and you’re entitled to your opinion but to declare the phrase “unacceptable delay” as over-the-top is the truly ridiculous comment here…
No, Jeff. The way it works is Joe Bonahoom is the attorney for City Council. He answers to them. The attorney client relationship is between Mr. Bonahoom and CC. The City Councilmembers answer to the taxpayers who include bloggers.
You are the one who referenced 4 lines in one of your earlier posts. I agree with Zach, blog worthy, yes… newsworthy, no.
WOW you have no lives. This is totally a non issue. Have you ever heard “making mountains from mole hills” I think that you are all wasting time, effort, and energy which could be much better spent. If you think that this ordinance is such a big deal than you should post the PRECIOUS information yourself, on this site.
WOW you need to read. Not only has the ordinance been posted on this site but a link was provided in this very post.
[...] on the city council agenda. Readers will remember that two weeks ago the council voted 7-2 to hold the ordinance in order to give council attorney Joe Bonahoom time to review the language. The ordinance would [...]